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With each passing week, it’s becoming clearer than Leonard Fournette is the runaway frontrunner for both the Heisman Trophy and its almost-as-prestigious counterpart that we hash out in this space every week.
Nothing wrong with that. Through the first half of the season, Fournette has been the country’s best football player by just about any metric you want to apply.
The bummer is that we won’t get the horse race we were expecting, because his only real competition so far — Georgia’s Nick Chubb — is done for the year. Injuries, even gruesome ones like Chubb’s and sometimes catastrophic ones far worse, are a fact of life in football. But that doesn’t make them any less awful.
But the SEC world keeps on turning, and we’ll do the same. For first-time readers, here’s the mission statement for this little exercise:
We’re endeavoring to sort out the conference’s best players by taking into account all the things the Heisman Trophy voters tend to leave out. To top our list, you don’t need to be a household name playing for a national title contender — though, if we’re being honest, it doesn’t hurt. We aim to find the best player in the conference who is also his team’s most indispensable piece.
We consider a player’s track record because past results tend to be a pretty good predictor of future performance, but as we move deeper into the season, the reputation a player has developed over the course of a career will fade in the equation, replaced proportionately by what they’ve done for their teams lately.
On to top 10:
10. CHAD KELLY, OLE MISS
Last week: Not ranked
Kelly fell out of our rankings briefly after a shaky outing against Florida, but given how the Gators defense has played this year, we’re willing to forgive him that one. The Rebels quarterback is leading the conference in passing yards per game by a wide margin and is second in the SEC in passer efficiency.
9. ROBERT NKEMDICHE, OLE MISS
Last week: 9
Nkemdiche registered a sack and a hurry, but not much was needed last week as the Rebels routed New Mexico State 52-3. Ole Miss should get more of a test in this week’s nonconference tilt, as No. 22 Memphis is ranked fifth in the nation in scoring and eighth in yards per game.
8. CHRISTIAN KIRK, TEXAS A&M
Last week: 8
The freshman phenom is holding steady after the Aggies’ bye week. He remains the conference leader in receiving yards despite having played one fewer game than most others chasing him.
7. DAK PRESCOTT, MISSISSIPPI STATE
Last week: 5
The Bulldogs got a taste of life after Dak last week and came through just fine. Of course, they’ll be happy to have one of the best players in school history back this week after he played only sparingly last week in a 45-17 win over Troy. Mississippi State takes on Louisiana Tech Saturday before returning to conference play against Kentucky on Oct. 24.
6. DERRICK HENRY, ALABAMA
Last week: 4
Henry was bottled up for the better part of last week’s game against Arkansas, but as the game wore on, the Tide leaned on the 240-pounder and put the game away in the fourth quarter. He finished with 95 yards on 27 carries and scored his 10th touchdown of the season.
5. VERNON HARGREAVES, III, FLORIDA
Last week: 6
Perhaps no player who makes such a massive impact on the game does so as quietly as Hargreaves. Of course, that’s the nature of the position; The best cornerbacks are often the ones heard from the least. Hargreaves tallied just two tackles as Missouri shied away from the All-SEC first-teamer, but he was part of a defense that held the Tigers to just 257 yards in a 21-3 win.
4. REGGIE RAGLAND, ALABAMA
Last week: Not ranked
Speaking of big-time defenders with pedestrian stats. Ragland doesn’t put up eye-popping numbers, but as the season wears on, it’s becoming clear that he’s the heart and soul of one of the best front sevens in the country. As the Tide were fighting for their lives in the first three quarters of last week’s game against Arkansas, it was Ragland more than any other individual who kept Alabama in the game. He earned SEC Defensive Player of the Week honors after posting eight tackles (seven solo), one sack, one forced fumble, one pass breakup and two quarterback hurries as Arkansas managed just 44 rushing yards on 25 carries.
3. MYLES GARRETT, TEXAS A&M
Last week: 3
Quarterbacks across the conference were a little bit safer during the Aggies bye week. Garrett remains the SEC leader in sacks with 7.5 through five games.
2. NICK CHUBB, GEORGIA
Last week: 2
We’re leaving him for one more week as a tribute.
1. LEONARD FOURNETTE, LSU
Last week: 1
His 200-yard game streak ended at three, but Fournette remains the nation’s leader in rushing yards by a growing margin. Though he’s played one fewer game than most of the nation’s top rushers, Fournette is the only player in the country to top 900 yards this season — and he’s already over 1,000.
Brent Holloway is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers Georgia, LSU and Mississippi State.
